Paul Carberry

Background

He was born on February 9, 1974. He hails from a racing family. He is the son of jockey Tommy Carberry, who was a famous National Hunt jockey in the 1960s and 1970s. His uncle is Arthur Moore, one of Ireland's leading National Hunt trainers. His younger siblings, Phillip and Nina, are also successful Irish riders.

Riding career

Apprenticing for Jim Bolger, Carberry earned his first win in August 1990 on Petronelli. He was also the jockey for racehorse owner Robert Ogden. Carberry learned his trade through hunting, show-jumping and point-to-pointing in Ireland and many view him as one of Ireland's leading jump jockeys along with Ruby Walsh, Barry Geraghty, Davy Russell and Andrew McNamara. In 1993, atop Rhythm Section, Carberry won the Champion Bumper – his first win at the Cheltenham Festival. Arguably the biggest win of his career was when he followed in his father's footsteps and won the Grand National at Aintree Racecourse aboard Bobbyjo in 1999.

Of all the horses Carberry has been paired with, perhaps the most successful partnership has been with Harchibald. The two went on to win five Grade 1 races, with wins in the Fighting Fifth Hurdle (2004, 2007), Christmas Hurdle (2004, 2008) and the John James McManus Memorial Hurdle (2005). However, the pairing is most known for their battle with Hardy Eustace at the 2005 Champion Hurdle. In the race, Harchibald looked certain to win, only to be beat by Hardy Eustace at the finish line.

Carberry has been associated with many great horses throughout his career, including Sausilito Bay, Nicanor, Florida Pearl, Beef or Salmon, Solerina, Harbour Pilot, Harchibald, Hairy Molly, Go Native and Bobbyjo. He has won 39 Grade 1 races in his career. In January 2013 Paul returned to the big-race winners enclosure in Britain when winning the Welsh National at Chepstow on Monbeg Dude, beating Tony McCoy close to the line after a classic Carberry hold-up-and-creep ride.

Carberry was stable jockey to Noel Meade for many years up to his retirement. He has a brand of racewear selling a variety of racing equipment named after him.

On 9 August 2016, Carberry announced his retirement from the saddle after failing to recover from a long-standing leg injury sustained in a fall at Listowel in September 2015.

Controversies

Despite all of his success in National Hunt racing, Carberry has faced problems outside off the track. In 2005, he was arrested and charged over an alleged incident which took place on board an Aer Lingus flight from Málaga to Dublin. According to reports, Carberry supposedly set fire to a newspaper on the flight. He was sentenced to two months in jail as a result of the incident. In 2009, Carberry was suspended for 30 days by the Referrals Committee of the Turf Club after he failed an alcohol breath test at Naas on 31 October 2009. The suspension caused Carberry to miss the 2009 Fighting Fifth Hurdle and Christmas Hurdle. His replacement, Davy Condon, rode Go Native to wins in both races.

After serving his suspension, Carberry and Go Native were paired together for the 2010 Champion Hurdle. A win in the race would have landed Go Native the Triple Crown of Hurdling and Carberry would have secured £150,000 as his share of the £1m bonus offered by WBX. However, Go Native was unable to capture the win, instead finishing in 10th place after being eased when beaten on the run from the final hurdle. Afterwards, Carberry said that Go Native dived after the second hurdle and was never the same moving forward.

Following his suspension, Carberry vowed not to drink again until his career as a National Hunt jockey was complete.

Cheltenham Festival winners (14)

Other Grade 1 winners